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Sunday, March 31, 2013

In the event that the first Star Wars film was not commercially successful, George Lucas had a
plan for turning it into a lower budget franchise. In addition to ghost writing
the novelization of Star Wars, Alan Dean Foster was commissioned to write a possible sequel to
that could be shot on a low budget and utilize many of the props and sets
already created for the original production.

In his 1996 introduction to the Dark Horse Comics
adaptation of his book, Alan Dean Foster wrote:

George [Lucas], thinking
ahead, wanted to be able to utilize props and backgrounds and the detritus of
filmmaking in a second film, thereby reducing cost if necessary. So in writing
the sequel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye,
I was asked to come up with a story that could be filmed on a low budget... It
was, to say the least, an interesting way for a writer to approach a novel. (Foster, 1996)

When Star Wars was
released in May 1977 it became clear that plans for a low budget sequel would
not be necessary. Plans for a high-concept follow-up were put in motion and
Foster’s proposed sequel was scrapped. But it wasn’t tossed out. It saw the
light of day as the first Star Wars EU novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.

Splinter of
the Mind’s Eye followed the same
branding as the first Star Wars
novel, sporting the From the Adventures
of Luke Skywalker subtitle. This helped to connect it to that
work and validate them as companion pieces to each other. It also helped to
suggest that both works were part of a larger series of adventures.

Consider that the first Star Wars novel was released prior to the release of the film. Well
before, in fact. It had no movie poster for its cover, only a concept design
from production artist Ralph McQuarrie. It lacked the now iconic logo and had
no insert in the middle with the production stills from the film that can be
found in later printings of the book. There was a teaser on the bottom of the
back cover promising that the book was soon to become a major motion picture.
Aside from this, the book for all intents and purposes looked like any other
paperback science fiction novel.

Splinter of
the Mind’s Eye came hard upon the
heels of the first book and the first movie, featuring an all new story about
Luke and Leia taking R2-D2 and C-3PO to a distant world to face off against
Darth Vader. This book was just a book with no movie tie-in at all. Like its
predecessor, it sported a cover by Ralph McQuarrie. It also claimed to be from
the Adventures of Luke Skywalker.
To the casual observer, these books were not derived from the movie. The casual
observer was justified in wrongly inferring that the Star Wars story actually
began as a series of books.

As a child I had heard the rumor that Star Wars came
from a series of books, and discovering an apocryphal tome like Splinter of the Mind’s Eye only helped
support the claim. You have to remember that there was no internet or even
wide-spread marketing media like there is today. What you saw in stores or in
catalogues was all you knew about what was available, so outside of that you
relied upon anything you either heard from someone else or decided for yourself
based on whatever dubious data you managed to collect.

You may think the internet is an effective source of
misinformation, but imagine that same misinformation spreading by word of mouth
with no centralized communication tool you could use to research its roots. A
savvy internet user can weed out unfounded rumors by judging their sources, but
back in those days information was hard to come by. Whatever information you
acquired had to be held as valid until a more credible source came along to
refute it.

There was also a rumor going around at this time that Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was being
filmed as a sequel to Star Wars. Most
likely this was thanks to a bastardized version of the actual story behind the
book’s creation. In any event, trust me when I tell you that misinformation and
misconception were both alive and well long before the internet ever came into
the mix.

The story of Splinter
of the Mind’s Eye was kept simple, in accordance with Foster’s task to
deliver something that could be produced on a low budget. Instead of engaging
in expensive space battles, Luke and Leia crash landed on a distant world with
their faithful droid companions. There they were forced to race through jungles
and ancient ruins to beat Darth Vader to a mystical Force-amplifying gem called
the Kaiburr Crystal.

The story would have set the stage for a much
different series of movies, partly because it didn’t push the mythology very
far forward and partly because it didn’t include all the core characters. Han
Solo and Chewbacca didn’t tag along, so as a sequel this would have excluded
them from what is now considered to be the necessary ensemble for a complete
Star Wars story. Of course, having fewer characters may have also been a
budgetary consideration.

The story doesn’t overtly contradict the canon to
follow, but there are some uncomfortable moments of sexual tension between Luke
and Leia. In his foreword to the Dark Horse comics adaptation, Alan Dean Foster says that the tension between them could work
in the context of future film canon, if it were interpreted to be more of a
sibling rivalry than a romantic attraction. We can concede that to him; in The Empire Strikes Back Leia kisses Luke
right on the mouth and no one ever even says anything about it in Return of the Jediwhen they go around merrily telling everybody they’re
brother and sister.

During the EU explosion of the 90’s, everything Star
Wars came back into print. Among them was a special re-release of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. The new
paperback edition bore a banner identifying it as “Classic Star Wars” and
lacked the From the Adventures of Luke
Skywalker subtitle. In
the introduction to this edition, George Lucas wrote:

After Star Wars was released, it became apparent that my story – however
many films it took to tell – was only one of thousands that could be told about
the characters who inhabit its galaxy... This legacy began with Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, published
less than a year after the release of Star
Wars. (Lucas,
1996)

By the time Lucas wrote those words the official Star Wars Expanded
Universe had already contributed plenty of new stories to his galaxy. But that
expansion began in 1978 with the publication of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. For that brief time it wasn’t the
Expanded Universe or even Star Wars, for that matter. It was The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, according
to the early novels. The Official Star Wars Fan Club Newsletter even referred
to the movie series as The Adventures of
Luke Skywalker until as late as 1980.

But it all started with Alan Dean Foster. The Star Wars novelization introduced the series as The Adventures of Luke Skywalker. And with
Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, Foster
introduced the first original expansion of the Star Wars Universe.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Greg returns as TVAMD project observer while Sean and Lynn discuss the gothic nuances of the Moth Diaries. There is also some discussion of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Brave, 7 psychopaths and other stuff.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Sean, Andrew and Lynn come down from talking about the Hobbit by randomly assaulting movies like the Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, Total Recall and Wrath of the Titans. There's also some polite discussion about Dredd.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Sean, Lynn and Andrew continue to talk about the Hobbit, Star Wars, and eventually Lord of the Rings versus Star Wars in an ongoing effort to examine what it takes to make a lasting mythology. Also there is some comparison of George Lucas and Joss Whedon, since we're just chucking stuff into the conversation randomly.